Welcome

You are warmly welcome to attend the inaugural United Nations World Geospatial Information Congress (UNWGIC) to be held in Deqing, Zhejiang Province, China from 19 - 21 November 2018.

Initiated by the United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM), a subsidiary body of United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) that is mandated to convene global forums to promote comprehensive dialogue on global geospatial information management with all governments, non-governmental organizations, academic and research institutions, and the private sector, the Congress will be organized by the United Nations through Statistics Division as the UN-GGIM Secretariat, in collaboration with the Government of China through the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Government of Zhejiang Province of China.

The Congress is aimed to provide a convening, participatory and inclusive environment to enhance the communication, understanding, knowledge and application of geospatial information management to address local, regional and global challenges, and to enable UN-GGIM to better understand and address the development of geospatial information management of Member States, mobilize willingness and resources to improve geospatially enabled governance of Member States, enhance the best and highest application of geospatial information for evidenced based policy making and citizen-centric services in Member States, enhance the regional and global geospatial information sharing systems, and crucially, support geospatially enabled sustainable development that leaves no one behind.

The Congress will be comprehensive, comprising a series of thematic streams that stem from the overall theme of the Congress, principally focusing on strengthening national geospatial information management and systems, and national implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The overall event is expected to be a week long, and will include exhibitions, global and regional meetings, workshops and learning events, side events and meetings, including the 7th Plenary Meeting of the Regional Committee of United Nations Global Geospatial Information Management for Asia and the Pacific (UN-GGIM-AP), as well as the annual UN-GGIM Expanded Bureau meeting.

All the geospatial professionals from governments, non-governmental organizations, academic and research institutions and the private sector are cordially invited to participate in the UNWGIC and contribute to the program, so as to work together to advance the potential and usefulness of geospatial information for sustainable development and towards a better world.